I think any time you deal with humans and the way they exploit one another and cause pain you are in the realm of politics, on some level.

For me, truth cracks open in the places where things do not cohere. That's how life is.

A lot of politics in art is just institutional critique, which, in my opinion, is not all that political.

I'm happy to be a woman but much of it was learned over the course of life. Really thudded into me. You learn it. It's a kind of mastery and artistry. The deeper person underneath the scent of Diptyque Philosykos or whatever is much less gendered. Every person has a range. In fiction, you get to be it all. I'm as much the men in my book as I am the women. I write how I write and there is no mission to stake a claim.

I begin a book with imagery, more than I do with an idea or a character. Some kind of poetic image.

I didn't do a masters in creative writing until I was 26, which is quite old, and then I found myself in New York and I needed money, so I started working full time as an editor.

You have time. Meaning don't use it, but pass through time in patience, waiting for something to come. Prepare for its arrival. Don't rush to meet it. Be a conduit.